180 ollies and kickflips the length
of the pyramid. Alan Petersen
blazed chest-high backside ollies
above the large quarter-pipe,
tweaked backside airs to fakie,
frontside 180's over the pyramid
and blindside backside ollies to
fakle over the gap. Perhaps if Alan
had included a couple of flips in his
55
runs he would have placed
higher than ninth. In another
judging blunder, Matt Beach was
awarded eighth for repetitive falls.
We all know he is a great technical
skater, but we all have bad days
and Matt was in the middle of his.
Supplied by cheers from his
peers, Jeremy Wray snatched fat
This page, clockwise from top: Tom Boyle came
on strong in Münster with big kickflip Indys.
Burnt offerings. Mott Hensley snuck in a few
runs during practice and dished out 360° flips
to fakie for his own satisfaction. Rodil Araujo
Jr switches a backside 5-0 down a decent
makeshift ledge. Matt Rodriguez, switch 360°
kickflip. Andy MacDonald throws down a
frontside nollie disaster. No matter where he
goes, Holmes is always a medio darling.
Ed Templeton, frontside 180° nosegrind.
46 THAMA
frontside kickflips over
the pyramid hip, solid
360 kickflips to fakie
on the steep bank and
a signature backside
180 over the big fun box before he
plowed into a throng of onlookers.
Jeremy dropped into the seventh
place slot. Sixth went to English
skatestar Tom Penny. He stuck big
tricks and occasionally hung up.
But that didn't matter to the spec-
tators and fellow
countrymen ap-
plauding his back-
side 180 kickflips
over the big fun
box, frontside kickflips on
the steep roll-in bank, nol-
lie heelflip fakies, and his
frontside half-Cab kickflips
over the curb cut gap.
Kareem Campbell served
up switchstance frontside
kickflips and half-Cab kick-
flips on the steep roll-in
bank, clean backside kick-
flips over the pyramid hips.
and big blindside ollies to
fakie over the tranny to
bank gap to nail fifth place.
Rodil De Araujo Jr proved
that skating is up to par in
his homeland with his con-
sistent runs. Frontside pop
shove-its and backside 1801
kickflips over the pyramid
were all his for the fourth
place cashola.
Rudy Johnson got busy when
his name was called and pulled
switch backside noseslides down
the fun box ledge, backside nollie
kickflips on the roll-in bank, switch-
stance frontside kickflips and 360°
kickflips over the pyramid hips.
MAN'S
Rudy got third. Mike Carroll, consis
tent as a European train schedule,
scooped nollie kickflips over the
wooden curb cut gap, switch kick-
flips to fakie on the roll-in bank,
backside 180 kickflips over the
pyramid hips, and switch frontside
180° 5-0 grinds down the fun box
ledge to capture second place. First
place belonged to Mike Santarossa.
His runs included 360° kickflips and
switch frontside 180 kickflips over
the hips of the pyramid and switch
360° kickflips up the steep roll-in
bank. In the final seconds of his
last run he landed a switch 360°
kickflip over the length of the pyra-
mid and the crowd screamed.
A chaotic product toss ensued as
fists, bodies, plastic water bottles,
soda, boards and clothing mixed
into the sea of skaters who were
muscling their right for a chance at
some free gear. Following a ten
minute, ten man tug-o-war for
Kareem's complete board, a tough
little skater emerged from the mass
with his pants at his ankles and a
shoe missing while clutching his
hard-earned prize.
Missing the opportunity in North-
ampton to secure the special socks,
I embarked on a six-hour boat jaunt
across the English Channel. After a
hot tip from an anonymous skater.
I found myself amongst a group of
two hundred spectators and skaters
at two public ramps in Amsterdam.
A skate demo was in full swing and I
spotted my target taking runs on
the larger ramp. As Speyer kept busy
jumping above the ramp. I spotted
his dark backpack on the ground
beside the ladder. I grabbed the bag
and made off with my take, pre-
suming he stashed extra pairs with
his belongings. To my dismay all I
found was an old sweaty T-shirt, a
wrench, some wheels and a can of
chewing tobacco. At this point I
knew I'd have to confront Speyer in
person in order to seize the socks.
This meant things could get ugly.
I rebounded to the ramp area and
found Speyer sitting sockless with
a group of young girls. Somewhere
in the area he had thrown away his
socks: I kept my cool and began to
search the grounds surrounding the
ramps. The demo came to a halt as
the sun began to set and my search
proved fruitless. That night I was
tipped-off that the skaters were
moving onward to Münster for a
World Cup competition. I knew that
Wade would be there also.
This page, from left: Kareem Campbell,
360° kickflip. Brian Howard slices a
frontside blunt at the Münster Bowl.
Mike Frazier lets it fly on a straight
legged frontside and a big Indy kickflip.
MÜNSTER, GERMANY
The thirteenth annual Münster
Masterships came and went before
a capacity-filled arena. Exactly 161
competitors entered the street con-
test because it was cheaper to
enter than to pay to spectate dur-
ing the much-publicized three day
event. Thus a day's worth of qualify
ing was spent watching established
pros, rookies and mongo-footed
upstarts flip and flop trying to make
it into the twenty-five cut. By the
time night fell, the seventeenth
heat was into its first rider, the most
of the spectators had already left
and all of those who still remained
were almost asleep.
Sunday's skating was a far cry
from the inconsistent and drawn-
out qualifying that had consumed
the previous day. Skating well in the
semis but not drawing lucky num-
bers, Chet Thomas, Matt Rodriguez
and Kris Markovich missed the final
cut. The highlights of the street
finals included Gershon Mosely,
who nollied 50/50 down the small
railing and ollied up four steps to
noseslide the backside of the small
railing. Rodil De Araujo Jr switched
up on backside 50/50s down the
steep ledge, sailed kickflip fakies
above the quarter-pipe and hung
onto big frontside kickflips over the
pyramid hips. Kareem Campbell
floated 360 kickflips over the pyra-
mid. Mako Urabe controlled his
board on cleanly caught backside
180's and 360 kickflips over the
pyramid hips. Two-time winner at
Münster, Ed Templeton skated his
ass off in hopes of securing a back-
to-back win with frontside 180
nosegrinds down the steep ledge,
heelflip 180's and frontside 50/50s
down the big railing. Wade Speyer
threw fast backside 50/50s down
the steep ledge beside the big set